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Shaky defense continues as Mohun Bagan advance further in the AFC Cup

Foreign star attackers Daryl Duffey and Sony Norde scored for the home team to win it for the Mariners...

The Indian giants defeated the Sri Lanka-based team 2-1 in a scintillating game but Mohun Bagan’s performance against the Sri Lanka champions left several eyebrows raised even after the match ended.

The Mohun Bagan coach was asked if he feels that there is something wrong with the current rhythm of his squad to which he responded, “What is important is that we have won seven matches out of eight matches we played.” “We did not show this much consistency in the last two years I believe,” Sen further added.

The former Mohammedan coach promised to play with all might against Colombo FC in the pre-match press conference on Monday. However, the gameplay against the Sri Lankan side was evident in favor of the other way around. “We never intended to play this game with our all efforts, our gameplay indicates that, “the Mohun Bagan coach responded when confronted with questions about the performance on Tuesday.

Mohun Bagan star footballer Sony Norde scored the first goal against Colombo FC on Tuesday evening. Coming back from a hamstring injury, Sanjoy Sen made himself clear previously that the match against Colombo FC was supposed to be a fitness test for the Haitian forward. The coach was asked for his assessment of Norde’s performance against Colombo FC ahead of the prestigious derby match against East Bengal, he answered “the derby and today’s match are two matches of very different stature. He will need to perform even better.”

The Kolkata giants were threatened several times by the Sri Lankan champions at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium on Tuesday. Sanjoy Sen admitted that his team’s defensive performance was not as expected and there are still chances to improve.

Despite winning the game, the Mohun Bagan coach made it clear that his players’ performance was not up to the mark. Colombo FC coach Roomy Hasan was praised his team’s performance against the Kolkata giants. “This is our first international tournament. Our boys have played satisfactory football,” said the away coach to the reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday. “I am very happy about our boys’ performance tonight,” he further added.

Roomy Hassan, the Colombo FC coach was asked if the losing of his team showed any lack in quality of Sri Lankan football to which he revealed, “Actually we are still not professional.” “In Sri Lankan football we do not have sponsors. In India, they have sponsors and day-by-day they are improving it,” he added.

Hassan was asked about Mohun Bagan’s performance against his team when he answered, “The Mohun Bagan defense is shaky. So many times, even in the last minute we broke their defense. So they are shaky.” “They are a very good attacking team. But defending-wise, they are very poor,” he concluded.